U.S. patent application number 12/891285 was filed with the patent office on 2011-03-31 for information processing apparatus that records logs, and control method and storage medium therefor.
This patent application is currently assigned to CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA. Invention is credited to Takuma YASUKAWA.
Application Number | 20110078515 12/891285 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43781648 |
Filed Date | 2011-03-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110078515 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
YASUKAWA; Takuma |
March 31, 2011 |
INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS THAT RECORDS LOGS, AND CONTROL
METHOD AND STORAGE MEDIUM THEREFOR
Abstract
An information processing apparatus capable of
overwrite-recording time-series logs indicating an operation
history and efficiently holding log information on operations
relating to an occurring error. When an error is detected, a
filtering object area is set that contains log information for a
predetermined time period immediately before the error detection.
Then, a type of the occurring error is identified, and log types to
be protected are decided based on the identified error type. Among
the filtering object area, log recording areas for the decided log
types are decided as a to-be-protected log recording area.
Subsequently, further log information is recorded so as to avoid
the to-be-protected log recording area.
Inventors: |
YASUKAWA; Takuma;
(Yokohama-shi, JP) |
Assignee: |
CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Tokyo
JP
|
Family ID: |
43781648 |
Appl. No.: |
12/891285 |
Filed: |
September 27, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
714/48 ;
714/E11.025 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 11/0733 20130101;
G06F 11/0775 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
714/48 ;
714/E11.025 |
International
Class: |
G06F 11/07 20060101
G06F011/07 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 28, 2009 |
JP |
2009-222320 |
Claims
1. An information processing apparatus having a storage unit for
storing logs, comprising: a decision unit configured, when an error
has occurred in the information processing apparatus, to decide
types of to-be-protected logs based on a type of the error; and a
control unit configured to control such that logs of the types
decided by said decision unit, among logs having been stored in the
storage unit, are not erased in a case where a new log is stored in
the storage unit after occurrence of the error in the information
processing apparatus.
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein said control unit controls so as not to erase, among the
logs having been stored in the storage unit, logs for a
predetermined time period beginning at a time point going back from
occurrence of the error in the information processing apparatus,
the logs being of the types decided by said decision unit.
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein said control unit controls so as not to erase, among the
logs having been stored in the storage unit, logs of a
predetermined storage size beginning at a storage position going
back from occurrence of the error in the information processing
apparatus, the logs being of the types decided by said decision
unit.
4. A control method for an information processing apparatus having
a storage unit for storing logs, comprising the steps of: (a)
deciding types of to-be-protected logs based on a type of an error
when the error has occurred in the information processing
apparatus; and (b) controlling such that logs of the types decided
in said step (a), among logs having been stored in the storage
unit, are not erased in a case where a new log is stored in the
storage unit after occurrence of the error in the information
processing apparatus.
5. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program for causing an
information processing apparatus having a storage unit for storing
logs to execute the steps of: (a) deciding types of to-be-protected
logs based on a type of an error when the error has occurred in the
information processing apparatus; and (b) controlling such that
logs of the types decided in said step (a), among logs having been
stored in the storage unit, are not erased in a case where a new
log is stored in the storage unit after occurrence of the error in
the information processing apparatus.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to an information processing
apparatus that records logs representing an operation history, a
control method therefor, and a storage medium storing a program for
executing the control method.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Conventionally, an image processing apparatus mostly has a
log recording memory area for recording and holding log information
that represents an operation history in order to immediately solve
an abnormality (error) occurring in the apparatus.
[0005] However, in some cases, such apparatus does not stop but
continues to operate, even if an abnormality is detected. In that
case, the log recording area overflows due to log information
recording after occurrence of the abnormality, whereby required log
information is lost. The recording area easily overflows especially
in a multifunctionalized image processing apparatus in which even
if some function becomes unusable due to the occurrence of error,
the remaining functions can generally be used. Such problem can be
solved by expanding the log recording area by using, e.g., an
auxiliary storage device, but resulting in increased cost.
[0006] In this regard, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No.
05-197597, for example, discloses a technique of
overwrite-recording log information in time series or dividing the
log recording area on a per error type basis, thereby preventing
log information from being lost.
[0007] On the other hand, image processing apparatuses nowadays
used in the office environment generally not only have scan and
copy functions, but also have various functions such as a network
print function, a Scan-to-Media function for storing scanned
electronic data to media, and a log-in function for user
authentication to limit users allowed to use the apparatus. When
the log recording technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent
Publication No. 05-197597 is applied to the office environment
where multi-function image processing apparatuses (more generally,
information processing apparatuses) are often utilized, the
following problems are posed.
[0008] In a case, for example, that the log recording area is
divided on a per error type basis according to the above-described
log recording technique, a problem is posed in an circumstance
where only limited types of errors occur that log recording area
portions for other error types are not efficiently utilized. In
another case that log information is overwrite-recorded in time
series, log information of types corresponding to the type of an
occurring error cannot be selectively protected. Thus, log
information required for investigation of the cause of error cannot
securely be held in the log recording area.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention provides an information processing
apparatus capable of overwrite-recording log information (logs)
representing an operation history in time series in a log recording
area and capable of efficiently holding, in the log recording area,
log information relating to an occurring operation error, and
provides a control method for the information processing apparatus
and a storage medium storing a program for executing the control
method.
[0010] According to a first aspect of this invention, there is
provided an information processing apparatus having a storage unit
for storing logs, which comprises a decision unit configured, when
an error has occurred in the information processing apparatus, to
decide types of to-be-protected logs based on a type of the error,
and a control unit configured to control such that logs of the
types decided by said decision unit, among logs having been stored
in the storage unit, are not erased in a case where a new log is
stored in the storage unit after occurrence of the error in the
information processing apparatus.
[0011] According to a second aspect of this invention, there is
provided a control method for the information processing method
described in the first aspect.
[0012] According to a third aspect of this invention, there is
provided a storage medium storing a program for executing the
control method described in the second aspect.
[0013] With this invention, in a case where log information
representing an operation history is overwrite-recorded in time
series, it is possible to efficiently hold log information relating
to an occurring operation error.
[0014] Further features of the present invention will become
apparent from the following description of an exemplary embodiment
with reference to the attached drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of a
controller unit of an image processing apparatus according to one
embodiment of this invention;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a view showing a table in which a relation between
error types and log types to be protected is shown;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a log recording process;
and.
[0018] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the details of a
to-be-protected log recording area setting process performed in the
log recording process.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0019] The present invention will now be described in detail below
with reference to the drawings showing a preferred embodiment
thereof.
[0020] FIG. 1 shows in block diagram the construction of a
controller unit of an image processing apparatus as an information
processing apparatus according to one embodiment of this
invention.
[0021] As shown in FIG. 1, the controller unit 110 is connected to
a reader unit 200 as an image input device, a printer 300 as an
image output device, a LAN 600, and a public line (WAN) 650.
[0022] The controller unit 110 includes a CPU 111, a RAM 112, an
operation unit I/F 116, a network I/F 120, a modem 121, and an IC
card slot 122, which are disposed on a system bus 117.
[0023] The CPU 111 is a controller that controls the entire system.
The RAM 112 is a system work memory used by the CPU 111 for its
operation and also used as an image memory that temporarily stores
image data. The operation unit I/F 116, which functions as an
interface unit with an operation unit 150, outputs to the operation
unit 150 image data to be displayed thereon and conveys to the CPU
111 information input via the operation unit 150 by a user of this
system. Reference numerals 170, 171 respectively denote a card I/F
and an external media I/F which are connected to the operation unit
150.
[0024] The network I/F 120 is connected to the LAN 600 for input
and output of information. The modem 121 is connected to the public
line 650 for input and output of information. The IC card slot 122
is adapted to be inserted with an IC card media for user
authentication.
[0025] The controller unit 110 has an image bus 118 for high-speed
image data transfer, which is implemented by a PCI bus or IEEE 1394
bus. An image bus I/F 115 is a bus bridge for data structure
conversion via which the system bus 117 is connected to the image
bus 118.
[0026] On the image bus 118, there are disposed a ROM 113, hard
disk drive (HDD) 160, raster image processor (RIP) 123, image
compression unit 124, device I/F 125, scanner image processing unit
126, printer image processing unit 127, image rotation unit 128,
encryption/decryption processing unit 130, OCR/OMR processing unit
131, and nonvolatile memory (SRAM) 180.
[0027] The ROM 113 functions as a boot ROM and stores a system boot
program. The HDD 160 stores system software, image data, etc. The
nonvolatile memory 180 stores user data, etc.
[0028] The raster image processor 123 develops PDL code into a bit
map image. The image compression unit 124 performs JPEG compression
and decompression of multi-valued image data, and performs JBIG,
MMR, or MH compression and decompression of binary image data.
[0029] The device I/F 125 connects the controller unit 110 with the
reader unit 200 and the printer 300 which are image input and
output devices, and performs synchronous/asynchronous conversion of
image data. The scanner image processing unit 126 performs
correction, modification, and editing on input image data. The
printer image processing unit 127 performs printer correction and
resolution conversion on print-output image data.
[0030] The image rotation unit 128 performs rotation of image data.
The encryption/decryption processing unit 130 is implemented by a
hardware accelerator board that performs encryption/decryption
processing by using a key of the IC card slot 122 or a device
proper key. The OCR/OMR processing unit 131 decrypts character
information or a two-dimensional barcode contained in image data
and converts it into a character code.
[0031] FIG. 2 shows correspondance table in which a relation
between types of errors which are assumed to occur in this
embodiment and log types to be protected is shown. As described
later, the correspondance table is used for protection of logs
relating to operations that can be causes of errors.
[0032] First, a description is given of error types.
[0033] In the example shown in FIG. 2, error types are a start-up
error, copy error, PDL print error, media print error,
Scan-to-Media error, FAX transmission (TX) error, and FAX reception
(RX) error.
[0034] The start-up error is an error that occurs at the time of
start-up of the apparatus due to a hardware abnormality of the
image processing apparatus 100, invalid user data being stored, or
the like. The copy error is mainly due to an operation abnormality
of the scanner image processing unit 126 or the printer image
processing unit 127. The PDL print error is mainly due to an
operation abnormality of the network 120, the raster image
processor 123, or the printer image processing unit 127.
[0035] The media print is mainly due to an operation abnormality of
the external media I/F 171 or the printer image processing unit
127. The Scan-to-Media error is mainly due to an operation
abnormality of the scanner image processing unit 126 or the
external media I/F 171. The FAX transmission (TX) error is mainly
due to an operation abnormality of the scanner image processing
unit 126 or the modem 121. The FAX reception (RX) error is mainly
due to an operation abnormality of the modem 121 or the printer
image processing unit 127.
[0036] It should be noted that image processing by each of the
image bus I/F 117, the image bus 118, the image compression unit
124, and the device I/F 125 affects all the above described
operations, and possibly becomes the causes of all the errors.
[0037] Next, a description is given of log types.
[0038] In the example shown in FIG. 2, log types are a memory log,
image log, scan log, print log, network log, FAX log, PDL log,
media log, and UI log.
[0039] The memory log relates to memory management for various
jobs. The image log relates to image processing such as image
compression, image decompression, and created image size. The scan
log relates to a scan operation such as read image size. The print
log relates to a print operation performed on a per page basis.
[0040] The network log relates to communication including a
transmission job. The FAX log relates to FAX including CODEC, etc.
The PDL log relates to PDL interpretation or bitmap image
development. The media log mainly relates to media file access. The
UI log relates to operated keys or transmission of data to be drawn
on a touch panel.
[0041] Next, with reference to FIG. 3, a description is given of a
log recording process in which log information representing an
operation history is overwrite-recorded in time series.
[0042] FIG. 3 shows the log recording process in flowchart.
[0043] In step S11, the CPU 111 starts recording log information.
In the next step S12, the CPU 111 determines whether it accepts a
recording termination instruction. When determining that the CPU
111 accepts a recording termination instruction, the CPU stops
recording the log information and completes the log recording
process. When determining that the CPU 111 does not accept a
recording termination instruction, the flow proceeds to step
S13.
[0044] In step S13, the CPU 111 determines whether an operation
error has occurred in the image processing apparatus. If it is
determined that an error has occurred, the flow proceeds to step
S14. If it is determined that an error has not occurred, the flow
proceeds to step S16.
[0045] In step S14, the CPU 111 sets a filtering object area in a
log recording area provided in the RAM 112, HDD 160, or SRAM 180.
The filtering object area is a part to be subjected to filtering
among log recording area portions in which log information has been
recorded. More specifically, the filtering object area is a log
recording area portion in which log information for a predetermined
time period immediately before error detection (that begins at a
time point going back from occurrence of the error) has been
recorded or in which log information of a predetermined size
immediately before error detection (that begins at a storage
position going back from occurrence of the error) has been
recorded.
[0046] In step S15, the CPU 111 sets a to-be-protected log
recording area (i.e., a log recording area portion to be protected
so that log information recorded therein is not erased by
overwriting) among the set filtering object area set in step S14.
The details of step S15 will be described in detail below.
[0047] In the next step S16, the CPU 111 determines whether a log
recording position is within the to-be-protected log recording
area. If it is determined that the log recording position is within
the to-be-protected log recording area, the flow proceeds to step
S17. If it is determined that the log recording position is not
within the to-be-protected log recording area, the flow proceeds to
step S18.
[0048] In step S17, the CPU 111 sets the log recording position at
a terminal end of the to-be-protected log recording area. In step
S18, the CPU 111 records log information. At that time, a log type
identifier is recorded simultaneously with the log information.
Then, further log information is recorded in the log recording area
so as to avoid the to-be-protected log recording area. As
previously described, the log recording area is provided in the RAM
112, HDD 160, or SRAM 180.
[0049] Next, a to-be-protected log recording area setting process
will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.
[0050] FIG. 4 shows in flowchart the details of the to-be-protected
log recording area setting process performed in step S15 in FIG.
3.
[0051] In step S21, the CPU 111 acquires information on error type
of the error detected in the error detection process in step S13 in
FIG. 3, and identifies the type of the error that has occurred.
Error types are decided in advance as already described referring
to FIG. 2, and information on error types is stored in a memory of
the image processing apparatus.
[0052] In the next step S22, the CPU 111 decides log types to be
protected based on the acquired error type information by referring
to the correspondance table shown in FIG. 2.
[0053] In the next step S23, the CPU 111 sets a first portion of
the filtering object area, as a processing object area, i.e., an
area to be subjected to a determination to determine whether the
area is the to-be-protected log recording area.
[0054] In the next step S24, the CPU 111 determines whether the
processing object area is at the terminal end of the filtering
object area. When determining that the processing object area is at
the terminal end of the filtering object area, the CPU 111
completes the log protection process. If it is determined that the
processing object area is not at the terminal end of the filtering
object area, the flow proceeds to step S25.
[0055] In step S25, the CPU 111 determines whether the processing
object area is of any of the to-be-protected log types decided in
step S22. If it is determined that processing object area is of any
of the to-be-protected log types, the flow proceeds to step S26. If
it is determined that processing object area is not of any of the
to-be-protected log types, the flow proceeds to step S27.
[0056] In step S26, the CPU 111 additionally registers the
processing object area, as a to-be-protected log recording area, to
a table (not shown) for to-be-protected log recording area, thereby
performing a log protection process, whereupon the flow proceeds to
step S27.
[0057] In step S27, the next portion of the filtering object area
is set as a processing object area. Then, the flow returns to step
S24.
[0058] According to this embodiment, when an error is detected, a
filtering object area is set that contains log information (logs)
for a predetermined time period or of a predetermined size
immediately before the error detection, and a to-be-protected log
recording area is set among the filtering object area. As a result,
an area in which log information on operations relating to the
occurring error has been recorded can selectively be set as a
to-be-protected log recording area. Since a further log information
(a new log) is recorded so as to avoid the to-be-protected log
recording area, the to-be-protected log information is not lost by
overwriting.
[0059] In setting the to-be-protected log recording area, the type
of the occurring error is identified, and log types to be protected
are decided based on the identified error type. Then, log recording
areas of the decided log types are set as a to-be-protected log
recording area and protects log information stored therein, whereby
log information of types corresponding to the type of the occurring
error can selectively be protected.
[0060] Accordingly, in an office environment where multi-function
image processing apparatuses are utilized, when an error occurs in
any of the apparatuses while apparatus functions are used, it is
possible to protect and acquire log information limited so as to
relate to an operation that is the cause of the error. It is
therefore possible to selectively protect log information (logs) on
relevant operations required for investigation of the cause of the
error. If it is assumed, for example, that an error is detected
during execution of a Scan-to-Media job after a copy job and a FAX
job are executed, log information relating to print operations in
the copy job and the FAX job and log information at the time of
reception in the FAX job are not held. In other words, these log
information are not handled as to-be-protected log information but
handled as log information allowed to be erased by overwriting at
the time of subsequent log information recording, whereby the log
recording area can efficiently be used. As a result, the log
recording area can be reduced in size, and a reduction in cost can
be achieved.
OTHER EMBODIMENTS
[0061] Aspects of the present invention can also be realized by a
computer of a system or apparatus (or devices such as a CPU or MPU)
that reads out and executes a program recorded on a memory device
to perform the functions of the above-described embodiment, and by
a method, the steps of which are performed by a computer of a
system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing a
program recorded on a memory device to perform the functions of the
above-described embodiment. For this purpose, the program is
provided to the computer for example via a network or from a
recording medium of various types serving as the memory device
(e.g., computer-readable medium).
[0062] While the present invention has been described with
reference to an exemplary embodiment, it is to be understood that
the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiment.
The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest
interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and
equivalent structures and functions.
[0063] This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent
Application No. 2009-222320, filed Sep. 28, 2009, which is hereby
incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
* * * * *